Always Wanted
by justanoutlaw
Summary: Regina and Robin always wanted a family. They just never imagined one this big.


They knew going into the treatments that there was a chance of multiples. To Robin and Regina, that meant twins. After how long they had tried for a baby, they would gladly welcome the possibility of two. It took two rounds to get the positive test that they had spent eight years longing for. They were over the moon excited that for a moment, they didn't think about the doctor saying that she had elevated HCG levels.

Then they went in for the ultrasound and discovered there were three fetuses. That was enough to give them pause. Three may have been just one more than two, but that was still a whole other life for them to consider. Robin ran his own pub and Regina was working her way up in environmental law. It was going to mean three college educations, three times the diapers, three times the sleepless nights. They had never planned on stopping at just one child, but they had also never imagined having so many at once.

The doctor said he could selectively reduce the pregnancy to twins or a single baby. Regina considered it for a second, but ultimately couldn't go through with it. It wasn't the way they had planned for things to go, but not much of her life had. From her father dying when she was still in college, to having the falling out that would cause her to lose contact with her sister. No, nothing about Regina's life had ever gone according to plan. She supposed it wasn't about to start with motherhood.

Robin had his best friend John build three cribs. While Regina's colleagues threw her a baby shower, they repainted the room a shade of "soft duckling yellow". Robin had wanted to find out the sexes of the babies, but Regina wanted them to be a surprise.

"They're fraternal anyway," she reminded him. "There's a chance there could be a mixture."

Robin got to watch as Regina's stomach developed. Every night, he felt for the kicks in the different places. He sang to the babies and told them all about "life on the outside". Regina would playfully roll her eyes.

"Your daddy's a dork," she'd call out to the babies over the tip of her well-worn copy of "When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quads: Proven Guidelines for a Healthy Multiple Pregnancy".

Robin chuckled and rolled up her grey night shirt to rub her stomach. "I wonder what they'll look like."

"All newborns look like aliens in my experience."

"That's nice of you to say."

"Do you remember what Lily looked like when she was born? I mean, she became a cute baby, but…"

"Ours will be adorable."

"Of course we'll think so. We're their parents."

Names were a long debate. They went back and forth, making a list that they crossed off throughout the entire pregnancy. In the end, they had three boy names and three girl names. They would be prepared for anything.

Oh, they really should've stopped telling themselves that.

As Regina reluctantly cut back her hours at the office as per her doctor's orders, Robin picked up his at the pub. He wanted to take off time once the babies arrived. Killian and John promised him that things would be fine in his absence. He trusted his friends, but the pub was his first child. It was what would put food on the table for his kids in the future. He needed to make sure that everything was perfect before the time came.

It came faster than either of them planned. Robin got a call from the police on a night when he was closing up. His wife had been on her way home from the store, but had been in an accident. It had been rough and she was rushed to the hospital. No one knew anything about the babies or how she was doing. Just that she had been unconscious when they removed her from the car. Robin couldn't remember if he completely locked up the pub as he ran to his own car.

Regina still had eight weeks left in her pregnancy. The babies were all on the smaller side at the last ultrasound. The doctor had been hopeful that she could carry on for a few more weeks, they wanted to get them as big and as stable as possible. He had no clue what the babies would live like outside of the womb and the thought terrified him.

Robin's mind flickered to his wife. The thought of losing her. Her never getting to meet the children that she had fought so hard for, cried for, prayed for. Regina read that damn baby book so many times and it still sat on her end table. Robin teased her for it, but it proved something to him. She had been ready to be a mom for years. This accident couldn't take that from her.

By the time he got to the hospital, Regina had already been brought back into surgery. They told him that she had been fine physically outside a few bumps and bruises, but the babies had been distressed by the crash. If they hadn't done the emergency caesarian, there would've been a chance to lose them.

Robin paced the waiting room. He listened to a couple bicker over whether they needed to feed the meter for so long, they probably already got a ticket. A nurse kept clicking her pen. Another person in the waiting room slurped their drink. It was too much noise. Some may have found the distraction welcoming, but it just drove him crazy. He needed silence. He needed to be able to think about his wife and babies.

It wasn't more than an hour, but it felt like an eternity, before the doctor came back to him. Robin ignored the aching feeling in his heart as he bridged the gap between them.

"Well?" He asked.

"Regina is doing just fine. She'll be asleep for a while, but she came through the surgery as a trooper."

Robin let out a deep breath. "And the babies?"

"They're on the smaller side and will have to be in the NICU for a bit while they catch up developmentally, but they're stable. All four of them."

Robin tilted his head. "I think you have it wrong. Our other doctor informed us that we were having triplets. Three babies."

"Well, we found four babies in there. Two boys, two girls."

Robin blinked. Four babies. They had four babies. Maybe it was from the lack of sleep combined with the melting fear and joy of becoming a new father, but a laugh escaped lips.

"Four babies," he repeated. "We have four babies."

"Yes sir." She smiled. "Congratulations."

Four college educations, four times the diapers, four times the sleepless nights. Hell, he hadn't he even asked John to build four cribs.

Yet, there would also be four babies to love. Four kids to watch grow into real people. Four little people that he had made with the love of his life.

John could always build another crib.

Robin got to see the babies before Regina awoke. They laid in the plastic basinets, some having more wires than others. He took notes for himself and Regina, about what each did and what each child would require. Robin didn't know when his kids would get to come home, but in that moment, at least he got to look at all of them.

Regina was right. They looked like aliens. They were still his aliens. Their aliens.

Robin walked into Regina's room not long after her eyes had opened again. She turned to him, groaning a bit. He quickly sat by her side and took her hand. "Don't move much," he whispered. "Your head got a bit banged up in the accident."

"The babies…the nurse said they're in the NICU."

"They are."

"Are they okay?"

"They're going to be." He squeezed her hand. "Henry, Roland, Margot and Vanessa are going to be just fine."

Regina softly smiled before her eyebrows crinkled. "Henry, Roland, Margot and Van…that's four."

"I know." He ran his thumb over her knuckles. "They think Vanessa was hiding behind her siblings all that time. It was a little cramped in there."

"Four babies." Regina's eyebrows didn't change. "They took four babies out of me?"

"Yes they did." Robin pulled his phone out of his pocket for proof, scrolling through each photo.

Regina's eyes softened as she watched the pictures scroll by. "I can't believe I didn't know she was in there."

"Well, she's here now for you to love forever. All of them are."

"What are we gonna do with four babies, Robin?"

"Go completely insane, milady."

"As long as we do it together."


End file.
